However, what won the 68 games and got them to the Finals was their defense, and the Pacers torched that for a long stretch of Game 3. Indiana took better shots and capitalized on them, finishing with a 116 offensive rating (9.5 points higher than the Thunder allowed on average during the playoffs coming into the game).

With his hands on his knees, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was running on fumes at the end of the fourth quarter. A frame in which the Oklahoma City Thunder let go of

Game 1 of the NBA Finals could have been an especially crushing defeat for a young Oklahoma City Thunder team had they not dealt with nearly the exact same scenario earlier in these same playoffs

Holmgren shot 2-of-8 within four feet of the rim in Game 1, finishing the night with six points on nine shot attempts. It was a night where Daigneault leaned more into Isaiah Hartenstein (9 points on 3-of-5 shooting, plus 9 rebounds).

The Oklahoma City Thunder could not go down 0-2 dropping both at home, and the team didn't. Let's take a look at three takeaways from the Thunder's most important game to date.